


All That's Left

by EmpressCactuar



Series: SnK Kink Meme Fills [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Romance, some gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-27 23:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20768747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressCactuar/pseuds/EmpressCactuar
Summary: Goodbyes hurt the most when the story is left unfinished.(A series of drabbles, mementos of those who are gone)





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> _**All that's left [Mementos of the Past Loved]** _   
_There's so much everyone has to let go of, but sometimes they can't resist keeping just a little something to remember those days, those people, by. _

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part One:  
MobuHan, ReiBert, Eren+Hannes, Marlowe/Hitch

##### Hange

Hange thumbed through the stack of papers she kept tucked away in a special notebook as she eased back in her chair. 

_“Moblit! Did you get that?! So fascinating! See if they’ll do it again!” _

_“Section commander! Please calm down, you’ll rile them up more than they already are!”_

A soft laugh at the memory, when Sawney and Beane were tethered down in the Trost District. She and Moblit and the rest of the Survey Corps had worked so hard to capture those two titans. Despite Moblit’s persistent anxiety during the mission, they had successfully managed to capture them. And she had definitely noticed Moblit’s own smile at the conclusion of the mission. 

_“We… we did it! Section commander, we-” _

He had been cut off by her own cheers. He laughed with her, grabbing his sketchbook and sketching out the forms of Sawney and Beane. 

He called her by her name in private, section commander when in the battlefield. When he called her name in Shinganshina… she already knew. 

A tear dribbled down her eye as she continued looking through his sketches. 

Eren in titan form… Sawney’s face… Erwin… A sketch of an abnormal they had encountered… Some wildflowers they had seen during a scouting mission… A portrait of her… 

What Hange wouldn’t give for a drawing of Moblit himself. 

  
  


##### Eren

Hannes always had a habit of being upset that he was unable to save Eren's mother. And at the time, Eren had been absolutely devastated and furious and _why couldn’t that damn soldier just **fight?!**_

With time, though, he seemed to be able to move past it to an extent. But humans are funny things. When confronted with that damned smiling titan, he was so desperate to save Eren and Mikasa that he charged head-first into a dangerous situation. 

Not that Eren had much right to judge him in that way, come to think of it. 

But in his headstrong last moments, Hannes forgot that he had already saved Eren before, and not just when he left his mother behind. 

When Armin was orphaned, they lost their home with Armin’s grandfather. They were faced with living on the streets as urchins when Hannes and his wife took the three of them into their home and took care of them until it was time to join the Cadet Corps. 

That time, living with Hannes… meant more to him than Hannes could ever know. And now… he’ll never see Hannes again. 

Eren looked dully at the playing cards he kept tucked in his pocket. A smile. How many nights did he play cards with him and Mikasa and Armin during that year they stayed with him? Hannes let him keep the deck after they left for the Cadet Corps. 

_“They’re just cards, kid. I can get more,” _

They might just be cards to everyone else, but to Eren, they belonged to a true hero. 

  
  


##### Hitch

Such an idiot… such an idiot… 

Hitch held her head in her hand as she rubbed her thumb over the patch of embroidered fabric in the other. Given to her when the Survey Corps returned. 

They didn’t have the resources to carry bodies all the way back from Shinganshina, after all. 

Who in their right mind would work as hard as it is to make it into the Military Police, only to join the Survey Corps? The 104th Cadet Corps from the Southern Region had been absolutely bonkers. Of the top ten, almost all of them joined the Survey Corps? Only Annie had joined the MP, though apparently another one was going to before he was killed in Trost. 

They were stupid from the start. 

But Marlowe? He had ranked first in their entire class! He joined the Military Police without hesitation! He was so dedicated to the idea of cleaning up the Military Police and making sure it deserved the prestige! So much so that he had gotten raked over the coals on occasion for being too bold in calling out corruption when he saw it. 

Why why _why_ did he join the Survey Corps? Why did he leave her behind? Why did he have to die? 

He was so absolutely convinced that they were going to retake Wall Maria, and that when they did he and her could move out into reclaimed land, despite her protests that they’d be better off staying in the interior. 

She was shocked when Wall Maria was reclaimed. She was devastated when they returned without Marlowe. How bittersweet, that Marlowe’s sacrifice helped get back Wall Maria and he didn’t even get to live to see the fruits of their labor. 

Hitch knew that Marlowe wanted to spend his life with her away from the convoluted politics of the interior and pursuing some noble dream. But now, she couldn’t bear the thought of being stationed somewhere away from Stohess District. 

Away from where they were together. 

  
  


##### Reiner

_“Check. Mate!” _

_ “Heh. Got me again, Reiner.”_

During his childhood, during his time in warrior training, during his time in the Cadet Corps and the Survey Corps, Reiner was never particularly known for his intelligence. 

This wasn’t to say he was stupid, not at all. He was excellent in being able to deduce the moves of others and to plan accordingly. But when you’re genetically predisposed to being a bear of a man people don’t think about your brains. And in the warrior program, he couldn’t even think about outsmarting Pieck. In the Cadet Corps, the same with Armin. 

It shocked the 104th when Reiner beat Bertholdt in chess, and then Jean, then Marco, even Annie when she was persuaded to play with him. The only one to beat him consistently was Armin, and nobody faulted him there. 

But he liked playing with Bertholdt. It felt looser, more casual. It wasn’t a challenge to him, trying to beat Bertholdt. Just a fun game to play with the most important person in the world. 

_Reiner held the king piece towards Bertholdt. _

_ “You’re like this, Bertl!” _

_ “Wooden?” _

_ “What? No,” Reiner grinned suggestively at him. “You’re my king!” _

_ An uncharacteristically loud laugh from Bertholdt. He looked down at the chessboard and grabbed the knight. “Well if I’m your king, I guess that makes you my knight.” _

No matter where he was, how far away from home he might go, no matter what hell he put himself through for the Marleyan military, Reiner always kept an old knight and an old king chess piece in his breast pocket. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon that the trio lived with Hannes after Armin's grandfather died but before they went to the Cadet Corps. 
> 
> Part Two will be up in maybe a week-ish, depending on how busy work is. This work will most likely be three parts in the end, MAYBE four.  
Part two: YumiHisu, Gabi+Zofia, Connie+Siblings, JeanMarco


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part Two:  
Gabi+Zofia, YumiHisu, JeanMarco, Connie+Sunny&Martin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JeanMarco wound up coming off much more... macabre than I meant it to. The memento for Connie is inspired by one of the items he likes as a gift in the AOT2 game!

##### Gabi

_“Come on, Zofia!” Gabi called out, waiting for her friend to catch up with her. Zofia might have the smarts, but Gabi had the running speed. “Reiner said if we did really good with our training he would take us to get ice cream!”_

_Zofia caught up to her fellow cadet, her hands falling to her knees to catch her breath. “You know if he’s still busy in one of his important commander-meeting things he can’t take us anywhere, right?”_

_True to Zofia’s word, Reiner was caught up in some sort of important meeting with Pieck and Galliard and Zeke. Gabi kicked a rock down the street, a frown etched on her features._

_“It’s not fair!” She puffed. Zofia rolled her eyes._

_“It’s not any different than usual, Gabi…”_

_“Yes it is! Since Falco and Udo are out with Colt doing that special training, that means we get Reiner to ourselves. And do you know what that means?” Zofia shook her head, her eyebrows raised. _

_“What does it mean?”_

_“It means Reiner can’t use having to pay for four kids to cheap out on the ice cream! This is seriously important!” _

_“Oh my god, you’re right.” Zofia said, realizing the graveness of the situation. _

_“What should we do?” Gabi began pacing back and forth in an effort to keep from fidgeting too much._

_Zofia rubbed her chin for a moment. “I know!” Gabi turned to look at her. “Let’s make friendship bracelets! We can make one for Reiner too!” _

_Gabi smiled widely. “That’s a great idea, yours should be pink and red because they’re your favorite. I think we can get buy some threads around here somewhere…”_

Gabi awoke with a start, panicking slightly as she looked around. Oh… there’s Falco. He’s exhausted. They’re still on this island… with the island devils out to get them. Gabi shivered as she rubbed her arms with her hands. She looked at the purple and red bracelet on her arm, tears forming as she despaired her situation. 

She would make all the island devils pay. But most of all, she would make Eren Jaeger pay for taking Zofia and Udo away. 

  
  


##### Historia

Historia continued rocking back and forth in her chair, occasionally rubbing her swollen belly every now and again. She hated being pregnant. She hated all the symptoms that went along with it. She hated everyone treating her like some helpless little kid. 

But it would never end. As soon as she birthed this baby, they were going to have her inherit the power of the beast titan. And then after that, she was expected to have another baby. And another. And another. Like some sort of broodmare. 

Didn’t they see the world already have enough children in it, without the need to mint anymore? Her goal was always to care for children orphaned by the fall of Wall Maria and the subsequent events five years later. Having more children because they were royal, they were special felt like a sick joke. 

Of course, her dreams always had a way of falling apart anyways. She hasn’t known heartbreak and despair like the moment Ymir left with Bertholdt and Reiner in any capacity since. Not even when she learned that girl she loved so much, her sister Frieda, had been killed. That wasn’t even close. 

She traced her fingers along the silver ring she wore on her right ring finger. 

_“One day, I’m going to marry you!”_

_“Marry me, Christa!”_

_“My only regret… was that I never got to marry you.”_

Historia watched as the father of her child lifted one of the children they cared for onto his shoulders. She cared about him, of course. She loved him, she just wasn’t… _in love_ with him. 

She told him they would never get married, and that was that. 

He never asked why. 

Historia looked down at her belly wistfully. “If you’re a girl… I’m naming you after the most selfless woman I ever knew.” 

  
  


##### Jean

Not every soldier got to die a hero’s death. That was one of the core truths of being in the military. You could go missing in action, you could be killed in action with nothing left to return to your family. Some people got to die that way, your death obviously benefitting the greater good and stories of your heroic actions being told for years to come. 

Or you could die alone, scared, with nobody finding you for days. Even someone as enthusiastic, jubilant, and genuinely _good_ as Marco could die that way. As he did. And even after his body was found, he was treated like little more than an afterthought, everyone seeming to forget about him after the fact. 

Jean thought about Marco every single day. He doesn’t regret joining the Survey Corps, not for a minute. They retook Wall Maria, they saw the ocean, they virtually eliminated the titans on the island in the span of about a year, maybe a couple of months more. 

But Marco never got to see any of it. And nobody even _talks_ about him anymore. Marco Bodt became just another body on the pyre to so many people. They don’t talk about his dreams, his ideals, his laugh. 

His freckles, his smile, his genuine belief in the good of humanity. 

Jean idly played with the small glass bottle he wore around his neck. Nobody ever saw it, lest they not be able to accept it for what it was. 

Within that bottle were bone fragments collected from the funeral pyre Marco was cremated on. That way, no matter where Jean went, Marco got to go too. 

Could he be absolutely sure the bone fragments were actually Marco’s? 

No, but he certainly liked to believe they could be. 

  
  


##### Connie

_“And so the brave soldiers rescued John and Jane from the mean, hungry titan. John and Jane learned a really important lesson that day. The hungry titan was very dangerous, but as long as John and Jane stay inside the walls, everything will be okay. The brave soldiers and John and Jane all lived happily ever after.”_

_Connie closed the book, Martin and Sunny sitting on either side of him on the bed. Martin looked at him, stars in his eyes. “And you’re going to be a brave soldier too, right?” _

_“You know it! I’ll be the strongest, bravest one of all! You guys won’t have to worry about any titans as long as I’m around!”_

_“You’re such a genius, Connie!” Sunny chimed in. “You… you’re not going to go outside the walls are you? Like John and Jane?”_

_“Of course not! If I went outside the walls I couldn’t come home much, then how would I get to see you guys? I’m going to join the Military Police!”_

_“Wow! The Military Police! You’re so awesome, Connie!” Martin added, looking at Connie excitedly. “When I grow up I wanna join the military too!” _

_“I’m sure you will, buddy. Maybe they’ll even station us together.”_

Connie walked aimlessly through the ruins of Ragako, abandoned after all the residents were titanized. He was finally allowed some downtime, and he needed to go back home to help process everything that had happened. It wasn’t fair, goddamn it all. Martin and Sunny were just kids, they didn’t deserve to get roped into all this war and titan nonsense. 

As he continued walking, something underneath a bit of rubble caught Connie’s eye. He bent over and moved the rock out of the way, an old copy of Hungry Titan buried underneath. His breath caught in his throat at the sight. 

He picked it up, tucking it under his arm as he continued his walk. 


End file.
